SHAKE THIS BOOK!

One ho-hum day, a naughty bunny decides to stir things up.

“HEY! I have an idea. What if you gave this book a shake?” Swinging from a tree, the rabbit grins up at readers. The rabbit’s animal pals look on; a sensible caterpillar has “a bad feeling about this.” After readers oblige, chaos ensues. The animals are all mixed up! “I think I’m a ko-owl-a-bear,” says a koala with an owl’s body. “Am I a kanga-rooster?” asks a chicken who now has a long tail and pouch. What a mess! When the animals ask the rabbit (now a “crabbit,” with the claws of a crab) to unjumble them, he calls on readers to shake the book again. More! “Shake it to the left! Shake it to the right! Shake it all around!” Luckily, readers’ efforts work, and all the now-exhausted animals are back to normal…but the rabbit may still have more mischief in mind. With all the text consisting of speech bubbles, this book begs for a storyteller ready to play with a different voice for each character—and willing to act the story out. Most illustrations feature colorful cartoonish animals with comically exaggerated facial features and movement against a white background; vivid cyclones of color effectively capture the turmoil as the animals are jiggled and jolted.

Let this silly rabbit shake up your storytime!